The Arabic Lexicographical Tradition: From the 2nd/8th to the 12th/18th Century (Handbook of Oriental Studies, 107)

Ramzi Baalbaki, American University of Beirut (AUB) A comprehensive and methodologically sophisticated history of Arabic lexicography, this book fills a serious gap in modern scholarship. Besides meticulously examining the factors that led to the emergence of lexicographical writing as of the second/eighth century, the work comprises detailed discussions of the aims, range, and approaches of the most important writings and writers of lexica specialized in specific topics and multi thematic thesauri, and the lexica arranged according to roots. The organisation of the book and the lists of works cited in the various genres make it easy for the reader to find his way through an enormous amount of material. From a broader perspective, the book highlights the relationship between Arabic lexicography and other areas of linguistic study, grammar in particular, and the centrality of Qurʾan and poetry to lexicographical writing. Table of contents CONTENTS Preface ................................................................................................................................. Chapter One Early Lexicographical Activity ................................................................ 1. The Background of Linguistic Study ........................................................................... 2. The Speech of the Bedouins (Aʿrāb) ............................................................................ 3. The Collection of Data ................................................................................................. 4. The Epochs of Reliable Usage (ʿUṣūr al-iḥtiǧāǧ) .......................................................... 5. The Role of Ġarīb ......................................................................................................... 6. The Compilation of Lexica .......................................................................................... 7. Remarks on Contemporary Scholarship and the Originality of Arabic Lexicography . Chapter Two Mubawwab (Onomasiological) and Specialized Lexica .......................... 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 2. al-Ġarīb (Strange Usage) and al-Nawādir (Rare Usage) ............................................ 1) Ġarīb al-Qurʾān ................................................................................................. 2) Ġarīb al-Ḥadīṯ .................................................................................................... 3) General Ġarīb/Nādir Material ........................................................................... 3. al-Amṯāl (Proverbs)................................................................................................. 1) Books with no Alphabetical Arrangement ......................................................... 2) Alphabetically Arranged Books ......................................................................... 3) Books Specialized in a Particular Aspect of Proverbs ....................................... 4. al-Nabāt (Plants), al-Ḥayawān (Animals), Ḫalq al-insān (Human Body), etc. ......... 1) Plants .................................................................................................................. 2) Animals ............................................................................................................. 3) Human Body ................................................................................................... 4) Miscellanea ........................................................................................................ 5. al-Muʿarrab (Arabized Words) ................................................................................. 6. Laḥn al-ʿāmma (Solecism) ........................................................................................ 7. al-Aḍdād (Words with Two Contradictory Meanings) ............................................. 8. al-Muštarak (Homonyms) and al-Mutarādif (Synonyms) ........................................ 9. al-Ḥurūf/al-Aṣwāt (Particles/Letters) ....................................................................... 10. al-Abniya (Morphological Patterns) ........................................................................ 1) al-Ištiqāq (Derivation) ....................................................................................... 2) al-Muḏakkar wa-l-muʾannaṯ (Masculine and Feminine) .................................... 3) al-Maqṣūr wa-l-mamdūd (Abbreviated and Prolonged Patterns) ...................... 4) al-Muṯallaṯāt (Triplets) ...................................................................................... 5) Nominal Patterns ............................................................................................... 6) Faʿala and Afʿala ................................................................................................ 7) Verbal Patterns in General ................................................................................. 8) Nominal and Verbal Patterns ........................................................................... 11. Multithematic Works ............................................................................................. Chapter Three Muǧannas (Semasiological) Lexica....................................................... 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 2. The Phonetic-Permutative System ........................................................................... 1) Kitāb al-ʿAyn by al-Ḫalīl b. Aḥmad ..................................................................... 2) al-Bāriʿ fī l-luġa by Abū ʿAlī al-Qālī .................................................................. 3) Tahḏīb al-luġa by Azharī ................................................................................. 4) al-Muḥīṭ fī l-luġa by al-Ṣāḥib b. ʿAbbād ............................................................ 5) al-Muḥkam wa-l-muḥīṭ al-aʿẓam by Ibn Sīda ...................................................... 3. The Alphabetical System ....................................................................................... 1) K. al-Ǧīm by Abū ʿAmr al-Šaybānī ..................................................................... 2) Ǧamharat al-luġa by Ibn Durayd ....................................................................... 3) Maqāyīs al-luġa and Muǧmal al-luġa by Ibn Fāris.............................................. 4) Asās al-balāġa by Zamaḫšarī ............................................................................. 4. The Rhyme System.................................................................................................... 1) al-Taqfiya fī l-luġa by Bandanīǧī ........................................................................ 2) Tāǧ al-luġa wa-ṣaḥāḥ al-ʿArabiyya (al-Saḥāḥ/al-Ṣiḥāḥ) by Ǧawharī ............... 3) al-ʿUbāb al-zāḫir wa-l-lubāb al-fāḫir by Ṣaġānī ................................................... 4) Lisān al-ʿArab by Ibn Manẓūr ........................................................................... 5) al-Qāmūs al-muḥīṭ by Fīrūzābādī ..................................................................... 6) Tāǧ al-ʿarūs min ǧawāhir al-Qāmūs by Zabīdī ................................................... Epilogue ............................................................................................................................... Bibliographical References................................................................................................... Primary Sources ........................................................................................................... Secondary Sources ...................................................................................................... Indices ................................................................................................................................. Index of Names ............................................................................................................ Index of Books ............................................................................................................. "A comprehensive and methodologically sophisticated history of Arabic lexicography, this book fills a serious gap in modern scholarship. Besides meticulously examining the factors that led to the emergence of lexicographical writing as of the second/eighth century, the work comprises detailed discussions of the aims, range, and approaches of the most important writings and writers of lexica specialized in specific topics and multi thematic thesauri, and the lexica arranged according to roots. The organisation of the book and the lists of works cited in the various genres make it easy for the reader to find his way through an enormous amount of material. From a broader perspective, the book highlights the relationship between Arabic lexicography and other areas of linguistic study, grammar in particular, and the centrality of Qur 'an and poetry to lexicographical writing." -- from publishers